Several points :
In engineering simulation / scientific computing, there are
several operating systems from which to choose, and NT doesn't
compete well. It is just not robust enough, and doesn't scale
well to really large problems. Adding processors to an NT
system doesn't gain enough to justify the cost. While the
initial cost of an SGI system is higher, it is infitely more
expandable. If an NT box is expected to support more than 4
clients, performance degrades terribly. People in misson
critical situations can't afford NT performance quirks, they
need a truly rugged, time-proven, real-time OS, not something
Microsoft slapped together from old 8-bit kernel pieces.
SPEC benchmarks are next to meaningless. The only way to truly
assess an operating system / computer architecture is to test
it on real world data.
The graphics performance of the O2 can't be touched by an NT
box for the same price. How much does a video card with 32M
texture memory cost? Why not buy a better, faster, entire
machine for what you'd be paying for just a video card?
You can do things on your desktop with an SGI that previously
required a studio. With an O2 + video option (under 17K$), I
can process real-time D1 video. On a desktop! If you tried to
pack that hardware into an NT box, it would cost you over 30K$.
SGI leads the way in the high performance technical market, whereas wintel et. al have dominated the low-end commodity market. Wintel is trying to migrate into the high-end market,
to capitalize on the Internet and WWW craze, but is finding out
that their products don't compete in the same class.
SGI, through co-operating with commodity producers - the latest of
which is Nintendo, has found ways to make inroads into the lower price market without a serious degredation in performance. It was the work
with Nintendo that really taught some design engineers at SGI a lesson
in how to do really neat fast things for low cost. If SGI can sell
more boxes for less, they do better with more market penetration.
What they have done now, and the new product line is only a start, is to reduce their cost to the point that it's cheaper to buy a SGI than
a comparably outfitted NT box. Margins on PCs are so low already that I can't see manufacturers going much lower. SGI owns the video production and animation business, as well as all the defense and scientific imaging markets. Now they are going for the lower-end graphic design and basic compute business. I'd say the future for
SGI, MIPS, and Cray looks good. |
